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Friday, November 24, 2006

Lady bug, lady bug, fly away home...

Sitting near a window yesterday, I kept seeing dark shadows flit across my peripheral vision. My first thought was that the wasps had returned to one of their favorite spots, but a closer look revealed that these particular dark shadows were tiny -- and there were lots of them. I couldn't be sure from the little bellies pressed against my window screen, but I thought they might be ladybugs.

I grabbed my camera and stepped outside. Sure enough, they were ladybugs, literally hundreds of them, the first swarm of them I've ever encountered.

The ladybug has the distinction of being the only insect I will willingly let crawl on my body. Someone taught me early on that they're friendly, and I've spent quite a few peaceful moments throughout the years watching one little cute, colorful body at a time climb up my sleeve. Yesterday, I called my daughter to come and take a look, and the ladybugs were all over our clothes and all around us in the air. I felt as if I were in fairyland.

There's no sign of the ladybugs today. Through a Google search, I learned that these particular visitors were Asian Lady Beetles. Much like Carmon's Western Conifer Seed Bugs, they "like to overwinter indoors" and "they emit an unpleasant odor and a stain when squashed." I'm sure Carmon would much rather find ladybugs in her jeans.

It was fun to see so many ladybugs at one time. I hope they'll come back someday, and I'll be extra careful not to squash 'em.

UPDATE - Same Day, 1:30 p.m. - They're baaaaaaaaaaack. The ladybugs are swarming again at the same corner of my house. Now I'm wondering if they're moving into my walls for the winter. You know, cute can only get you so far. I still like 'em, but if they start any trouble, I'll evict their little polka-dotted asses.

One year we had a swarm of those cute little things move into the are, just before winter. At first it was really neat to see so many at once, then it got annoying, all over my car, my house, and in my house!!! 100's of them! Hanging on the curtains, the tassle of the ceiling fans, covering the TV screan, they were everywhere! We kept trying to catch them and put them outside, no go! They would just come back, or more would show up, they settled in my living room ceiling, under the fake wood beams. After several weeks, they finally dissappeared! It was really strange!!! I never had the heart to squash them...lol Hope they move on there way soon!

Better ladybugs than the swarm of termites I found INSIDE my first house the first spring we lived there. I had a wall all black with them! Screamed like a banshee, I did. Then I got the vacuum out and sucked them all up.

Annie, I forgot about fireflies. So now there are TWO insects I'll willingly let crawl on me...but only in small numbers.

Sunflower, we had termites at the office. Nasty little creatures, those!

Kat, last year I probably saw half a dozen ladybugs over the course of a day or two, and I remember thinking it was unusual to see so many. Ha! Little did I know what lay ahead. According to the Wikipedia article I linked to, the swarms are becoming much more common. Who could have predicted we'd ever have to deal with ladybug invasions?

i had a swoorm of lady bugs in my house one time, daughter like to have freeked out. kill, kill um she said. i took a broom and sweep them up and put them out side. they kill aphids and aphids are very hard on rose bushes. i like lady bugs.

No bugs that I know about here. In years past, we'd know fall was reallyhere because we'd have lots of tiny black bugs (maybe gnats) commit hara-kiri on the window screens, but they haven't shown up in large numbers in the last few years. One good thing about colder weather is less bugs. Kat, I haven't seen ladybugs around here.

Janet, I remember some tiny, tiny black bugs that swarmed every year in Missouri. My grandmother called them oat bugs, and they were so tiny they'd come right in through the screens. My grandma's solution to the oat bug invasion was to serve only those dishes that normally had pepper on them. We knew we might be eating oat bugs, but at least we wouldn't be sure.

I've become a fan of your blog (along with my son) via Kim's site (I wipe up the drool caused by her site before visiting yours) and happned across this one after my Thanksgiving vacation from computers.

My house in invaded by these creatures yearly, leaving their rattling carcasses in window sills and along the edges of my carpet... filling up my vacuum to no end. They do emit a nasty stink when/if you squish them and stain as you mentioned, one other warning, the little stinkers BITE and leave behiind a lovely red mark for a couple days.

These little creatures are one of my favourites and belong in the realms of faerie red-capped *pixie* toadstools and fireflies. I've never seem such a large gathering of ladybirds, what a lovely sight. They are the gardener's friend too.

About Me

My Other Blogs

On the Internet to Find the Others

"Admit it. You aren't like them. You're not even close. You may occasionally dress yourself up as one of them, watch the same mindless television shows as they do, maybe even eat the same fast food sometimes. But it seems that the more you try to fit in, the more you feel like an outsider, watching the 'normal people' as they go about their automatic existences. For every time you say club passwords like 'Have a nice day' and 'Weather's awful today, eh?', you yearn inside to say forbidden things like 'Tell me something that makes you cry' or 'What do you think deja vu is for?' Face it, you even want to talk to that girl in the elevator. But what if that girl in the elevator (and the balding man who walks past your cubicle at work) are thinking the same thing? Who knows what you might learn from taking a chance on conversation with a stranger? Everyone carries a piece of the puzzle. Nobody comes into your life by mere coincidence. Trust your instincts. Do the unexpected. Find the others..."

--Timothy Leary

My Babies

Levi

Gimpy

Kadi: Jun 1997-Mar 2011

Butch: Mar 1998-Feb 2012

The Introvert

She cared for those trinkets as if they were cherished heirlooms, rarely displaying them in public. She stored them in protective velvet sacks, drawing them out only when she was alone or in the company of those she trusted to understand why the simple objects mattered. And as careful as she was to protect the trinkets, so she was cautious about sharing her words, and for the same reasons.